it was called the drunk-o-meter. basically cops made you blow up a balloon and mix the air with a special chemical solution. the darker the solution turned the more alcohol the suspect had on his or her breath then they used mathematical formula. back in the 50s invented the breathalyzer same cops use at breathalyzers and traffic stops. it's a lot more accurate. cops got a new tool in their belt 74 years ago today. please drive safely. that is the fox report for this new year's eve monday, december 31st, 2012. i'm trace galt gear in for shepard smith. we'll be back tomorrow with "studio b" as 3:00 p.m. eastern time. "special report" is next with updates on the fiscal cliff negotiation from all of us here have. a safe and happy new year. >> bret: this is a fox news

alert. i'm bret baier live in washington. here is what we can report four hours from 2013. the country will officially go over the so-called fiscal cliff tonight. congress will miss a midnight deadline. it was deadline politician in the nation's capitol set up to be so unappealing. so unacceptable that both sides would have to budge. both sides would have to come to a better, more balanced deficit and debt deal. it's hard to believe but that was almost two years ago. and now, with the clock winding down to the end of to 12, and the end of the fiscal cliff deadline, not a single piece of legislation has passed congress on this. at this hour, vice president biden is set to meet with senate democrats. you are looking live just outside of capitol hill there. we are waiting for his arrival. he will be meeting with senate democrats in hopes of ironing out a mini deal. is he actually trying to sell it to several key democratic senators who are skeptical to say the least. a big union leaders is

weighing in as well. is he not happy with what he has heard of the deal so far. we're positioned just outside again for the vice president's arrival. then, inside, just outside the senate chamber, well it, there are the republicans, several senate republicans have already announced opposition. but, if whatever comes out, legislation wise makes it through the senate tonight somehow, how the house speaker and his g.o.p. caucus potentially deal with this tomorrow, january 1st, 2013 is the real question. since we haven't mentioned this yet, but there are no new spending cuts in this potential deal. we are technically going over othe cliff. but can washington calm economic nerves by fixing things over the next few hours and into tomorrow and next few days? we begin with fox news coverage. chief white house correspondent ed henry looks at messaging and movement from president obama and what the democrats are saying.

mike emanuel on a framework of a deal that is still, at this hour, still influx. >> good evening, yes. there is definitely some heart burn on the left. we are expecting senate democrats are telling us they are expecting vice president joe biden who negotiated this deal for the democrats to come up here at some point to try to calm nerves of his fellow democrats. they are anxious about the tax rate level. they were hoping for the $200,000 tax rate to 250 that president obama campaigned on. hearing that it's going to be higher than that, they are anxious about it. bottom line, the key negotiators in this deal are trying to get it done. >> we'll continue to work on finding smarter ways to cut spending. but let's not let that hold up protecting americans from the tax hike that will take place. we can do this. we must do. this. >> though it is down to the wire. >> it's december the 31st.

january 1st is tomorrow. 2013, tax does up. john thune says the senate should have acted months ago to keep the economy going off the fiscal cliff. >> i just find it really hard to sit and listen to people come up now and wring their hands and talk about gee whiz, you know, i really hope we can get something done here in the last day as we put two people together, basically, to resolve. this. >> the two people were senate republican leader mitch mcconnell and vice president joe biden who worked the phones late last night and early this morning after talks between mcconnell and majority leader harry reid stalled. >> discussions continued today on a plan to protect middle class families from tax increase tomorrow. there are a number of issues on which the two sides are still apart, negotiations are continuing as i speak. >> the agreement would set the threshold for extending the bush tax cuts at $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for families. it would set the tax rate on upper income people at 39.6%.

the rate under former president bill clinton. estates would be taxed at 40% above $5 million for individuals, and $10 million for a married couple. unemployment benefits would be extended a year as would the medicare doc fix it would permanently fix the alternative minimum tax. a big concern for republicans is there are no new spending cuts. >> history has a way of repeating itself. somehow washington never gets the message. here we are 30 years later on the brink of another crisis on new year's eve still addicted to spending money. >> last friday speaker boehner told his senate colleagues to see if they could find a by by bipartisan deal with time running out. house lawmakers were left working on unrelated issues and feeling like this process is broken. >> the american people are looking at congress with disdain and rightfully so. with the deadline on the fiscal cliff only hours away, we have failed to reach a

reasonable compromise to move the economy forward and ward off painful tax hikes on the middle class. >> senate republicans are hopeful there will be a vote tonight. first, they would like an official score from the congressional budget office. so plenty of activity ahead here on the hill tonight. and if there is a vote and if it were to pass, then the house would pick it up tomorrow, bret. >> bret: just to be clear, mike. tonight, there is still a possibility, in the senate, because of the way it works, that you would have to get 60 votes to get the thing to the floor, it's not really clear that they have all those votes yet. >> that's right. we have talked to some senate democrats off camera who say they think a lot of their members support it. and it's a vocal minority who don't like it a be in of republicans i have talked to say it's not a perfect deal. it's a compromise. probably doing the right thing to keep the country from going off the fiscal cliff. they do have to count heads to figure out how many people are willing to stick their necks out for this deal, whether they think it does the job and

some people said they want to see the legislative language so it may be a long night ahead. >> bret: definitely. mike emanuel. we'll head back for any breaking news. thank you. ed henry standing by if he white house with the latest there. vice president biden may be on the move soon. ed? >> good evening, bret. they say they are waiting for whether or not the democrats will hold a caucus meeting tonight. that's obviously still unclear. if they have that meeting, the vice president is expected to be there to try and sell this. republicans are charging though that the president may have messed up this deal with a little bit of excessive celebration earlier. >> if we're going to be serious about deficit reduction and debt reduction, then it's going to have to be a matter of shared sacrifice. at least as long as i'm president. and i'm going to be president for the next four years. [cheers] >> taking what republicans called a victory lap. president obama said a deal is in sight. appeared at a campaign style event to remind everyone he is winning and the g.o.p. is not. >> just last month republicans

in congress said they would never agree to raise tax rates on 00 wealthiest americans. obviously the agreement is currently being discussed would raise those rates and raise them permanently. >> republicans suggested the event may back fire. accusing the president of rubbing their noses in defeat. >> time to stop the campaigning, the president won. we all know that. he won fair and square. but isn't it now time to govern? >> the president was absolutely out of line with his comments at 1:30 this afternoon. this is a very delicate time in the negotiations. i would think democrats would be embarrassed at what the president did. >> after months of the president promising a balanced approach, there are only tax hikes for the rich without any new spending cuts. and today he hinted at even more tax hikes ahead. warning republicans future deficit reduction will not come from cuts alone. >> if they think that's going to be the formula for how we solve this thing. then they have got another thing coming. that's not how it's gonna work. >> republicans fired back it's time for presidential leadership. to stop the exploding cost of

programs like medicare. >> mr. president, i'm willing to play along with my other republican colleagues the role of tipp o'neal. you just need to play the role of ronald reagan. >> white house officials note the president did offer dramatic cuts. it was speaker john boehner who walked away from a 4 trillion-dollar deal. indeed boehner may have a trouble selling a final deal to republicans after he revealed tax hikes had to be cull peld with spending cuts. >> washington has a spending problem that can't be fixed with tax increases alone. >> the other major hurdle is shutting off the sequester especially after this vow in the final presidential debate. >> it will not happen. >> today republicans accused the president of moving the goal post by suggesting more tax increases are needed to stop the massive cuts aimed at the pentagon and elsewhere. >> revenues have to be part of the equation in turning off the sequester. >> there is some real anger brewing tonight on the left

about proposed deal. even rich trumka the evidence the afl-cio head of organized labor it's not a good fiscal cliff deal if it gives more tax cuts to the 2% and sets the stage for more hostage taking. he is referring to the debt ceiling debate that's coming early next year. goes on to tweet republican's fiscal cliff double think fiscal crisis demands cuts in service, no investment in jobs but allows more tax cuts for richest americans. if and when this comes up for votes in the house and senate, it's unclear how many democrats especially on the left will support this, or buck the president, basically. bret? >> bret: ed henry live in the white house. thank you. stocks started the week up. possibly encouraged early in the day about talk of this possible deal. the dow finished ahead 166. the s&p 500 was up 24. the nasdaq gained 59 another deal not fiscal cliff related. the senate home security committee blasted the state department for failures

leading to the deadly september 11th attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi, libya. this comes on the heels of another scathing report by an independent state department accountability review board that we have covered many times. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge has the latest senate report sites the white house for president obama inconsistent statements whether the benghazi assault was terrorist attack given intelligence showed within hours that al qaeda affiliate was responsible on september 11th. as evidenced reported sites mr. obama's interview with 60 minutes. it's too early to know exactly how this came about. group involved but obviously it was an attack on mrns the committee's ranking members says the statements are part of a broader troubling pattern. >> the administration repeatedly has rerefused to name the threat that we face. >> senators joe lieberman and susan collins write that senate investigators are being denied a detailed time line on the cia talking points.

specifically, how the talking points were massaged with terms like al qaeda dropped. the report says the administration has spent weeks debating internally whether or not it should turn over information considered deliberative to the congress. frustrated by the delays, the committee chair urged the intelligence community never to fall into the same trap. >> it is not the responsibility of the intelligence community to draft unclassified talking points for public consumption. especially in the heat of a national political campaign. >> seeming to undercut administration claims there was no actionable intelligence that could have prevented the attack. the report says patrick kennedy one of secretary of state hillary clinton's top aides told investigators the severe threat environment was well known. >> the system was, in fact, flashing red. in issue libya and benghazi particularly. >> the report concludes that the military commander for africa had no idea of the depth and breath of the cia

operation. the defense department would be called upon to evacuate two dozen americans on short notice. >> i am concerned that the department of defense did not have assets available that could come to the rescue in a timely fashion. >> and the report found no direct evidence secretary clinton turned down security or funding requests. >> so that it stopped, as far as we can see, at the mid level managers. >> over the weekend, in an interview with meet the press, the president seemed to play down the security and intelligence failures saying they were, quote: huge problems and sloppiness adding that his administration is accepting the 29 recommendations of the state department review released in mid december. bret? >> bret: continue to follow it catherine, thank you. secretary of state hillary clinton remains under hospital observation after being treated for a blood clot related to the concussion. she sustained earlier this month. her doctor says that clot is located between her brain and the skull behind her right ear. the doctors say it did not

result in a stroke or neurological damage. the clot is being treated with blood thinners, her doctors are predicted a full recovery. looking live now at the senate floor. not a lot going on there. but a lot going on behind the scenes. senate democrats may meet the vice president may go up there. republicans talking about what they will do. there is an expectation that the senate will bring forward a piece of legislation that will be voted on tonight. we are three hours and about 46 and a half minutes away from this fiscal cliff deadline and, oh, yes, 2013. keep it here on "special report."

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>> bret: whipping the republican vote on a possible deal. kyl said no, there are meetings happening behind the scenes. and you can see there is senator kyl's office in the distance. this is just off the senate chamber and the senate chamber itself, not a lot happening there because it's all happening behind the scenes, waiting to see how this deal all comes together; if it comes together tonight. and the house has adjourned for the night. they will meet tomorrow january 1st, 2013 at noon. union influence may be shrinking and yet its power really is still significant throughout the u.s. shipping in the gulf and the northeast to a stand still with a possible dock workers strike. unions within the changing globalized workforce. >> a 30 day contract extension

agreed to by the international long shore man's association shippers and port operators last friday temporarily averts a shutdown of 14 ports from massachusetts to texas. but 14,000 longshoremen still find their jobs threatened by automation. today it takes just one long shoreman to do the work of three a generation ago. >> we have seen it in several of the heavy industries in america's history where efficiency and new productivity, machines have come into play. and people get displaced by that. it's been a difficult thing but it's one of the things that in order to maintain the cost and competitiveness in a global marketplace we have got to pay attention to. >> union manipulate in the u.s. has declined by 11.8% of the workforce. president obama finds himself beholden more than ever to unions. they contributed heavily in manpower and money to his re-election. he, in return, has made a point of supporting them. >> you only have to look to michigan where workers were instrumental in reviving the auto industry to see how unions have helped build not

just a stronger middle class but a stronger america. >> a day after that visit, michigan a union strong hold, became the 24th state to pass a right-to-work law. hampered in the states by right-to-work momentum and in washington by a divided congress and abroad by low cost competition the president's option to reward unions are limited. >> there are things that the president can do and will be expecting that leadership from president obama. >> one option, executive orders and federal regulations. more than 5700 new ones have been posted in the last 90 days alone. there is another option. >> the way to do it is from the union's perspective is to raise those workers' pay around the world. >> u.s. unions are trying to do just that laying the groundwork as richard trumka recently said to protect workers from, quote. the to detroit to juarez to channing ha to. getting governments agree is another matter. bret? >> bret: doug, thank you. again, we are waiting for any development out of the senate. the house has agender for

tonight. they will be back tomorrow to deal with whatever comes out of senate if it comes out of the senate. as you look like at the capitol dome that light on the top, that means they're still working. they are still in session. we'll see if a mini deal. not the big grand bargain but a mini deal be with worked out and come to the floor and we will see where the votes stand tonight. keep it here on fox. sometimes what we suffer from

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>> looking live outside the u.s. capitol. we are waiting for vice president biden. we are told that he may arrive any moment. i haven't heard of him being on the move of yet.

cameras are off the shoulder as you can see right there. getting ready. we don't think that's the vice president. has a bigger entourage than that. and he, when he comes. we're told will meet with senate democrats to twist some arms to get this vote moving forward, possibly out of the senate and moving on to the house it looks like tomorrow. there are some hurdles in the senate. it's not a done deal that one it could get through there with the votes and two that it's moving forward at pace at this hour. at a 23 eastern time. hundreds of thousands of revelers around the globe are expected to cram into new york city times square to seat ball drop and ring in 2013 of course. police commissioner ray kelly saying times square will be tonight the safest place in

the world. you can see the folks. i always wondered how they stay out there all that time. you know who else will be out there all that time? can you keep it right here safely on fox news channel because tonight, from 11:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. can you it celebrate all american new years megyn kelly and bill hemmer. i saw them tease this with trace gallagher earlier. i just don't think you want to miss it i really don't. in international news, syria's state media is blaming a terrorist group, in other words, rebels for blowing up a natural gas pipeline in the country's oil-rich east. it's one of a growing number of blows the opposition has been able to make against bashar assad's regime. correspondent leland vittert has the latest. once a vibrant city of about 60,000 in city's north now it looks like a set for a post apocalyptic movie. there is is no water, no

electricity explained one of the few men left in town. still rebels view these destroyed streets as worth fighting for against a far better armed syrian army. we are using light weapons, guns, rifles exschamed this fighter. on the other hand the regime uses heavy artillery, tanks and planes. long embattled and nearly crushed. rebels are now on the offense. pinning down forces loyal to president bashar assad on the road capitol to the damascus airport. and attacking government tanks with improvised explosive devices. much of the rebel's arsenal is either stolen from government positions or improvised in workshops like this manufacturing homemade mortar shells. but it's not enough in aleppo rebel forces have been trying to take the city for more than a year. we are holding the line with fighters until they ammunition explained the man on the front line. they means countries like can

you tar financing rebel forces and weapons. so far the united states has refused to armed the rebels. a position criticized in an op ed by senators mccain, gram and lieberman. if we remain on the current course, future historians are likely to record the slaughter of innocent syrians as a shameful failure of u.s. leadership and one of the darker chapters in our history they wrote. >> arming the rebels is the easy part. it's almost impossible to track where those weapons go and with an increase in the number of al qaeda loyalists joining the fight. many warn it's too risky of a proposition. even a peace envoy to syria warns the country could end up like somalia, except this time it's a failed state with chemical weapons up for grabs. bret? >> bret: leland vittert. update how the fiscal cliff wall street as we near the 11th hour. and again a look at the ohio clock position. reporters just talking to reporters.

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>> bret: our top story at the bottom of the hour, two words, fiscal cliff. u.s. is going over it tonight. the senate majority leader has not moved a bill to the floor yet. the house would only deal with whatever the senate passed.

if it did anything and the house is adjourned for tomorrow. the deadline will be missed. all indications are expecting to bring something forward tonight before midnight. still the deadline of midnight will be missed and the country will go over the fiscal cliff. here is how the potential deal, the framework of the deal is stacking up right now. on taxes, those making incomes of up to $400,000 as individuals or 450,000 as couples, your tax rates stay the same. those earning above 400,000 as individuals, 450,000 as couples will be taxed at a 39.6% rate up from 35%. that's the clinton rate. taxes on capital gains and dividends for incomes again exceeding 400,000 for individuals, 450 for families would increase from 20% from 15%. the alternative minimum tax or the amt this is a big one is permanently indexed to inflation, in other words it's been an annual patch every

year that congress had to do that. this would make it permanent. the plan also expands the child tax credit earned income tax credit and up to $2,500 tax credit for college tuition. unemployment benefits would be extended for one year and the same for the medicare dock fix. the social security payroll tax cut reverts to a 6.2%. on the estate tax, the estate tax will have a 10-million-dollar exemption per couple with additional inheritance taxed at 40 pierce. these are details just coming out. they are influx. they could change. but we thought we would give you what we could. some of it is in the weeds but a lot of people are interested in the weeds. let's take a look at wall street's reaction to the ongoing cliff negotiations. fox business network correspondent rich edson is on capitol hill. rich, you know, the market had a pretty good day today as all this talk was going back and forth. and i guess before the market closed. a lot of the talk was they

were really, really close to a deal. >> right, bret. when you consider earlier in the day when we started getting news that they were moving much closer to a compromise, wall street jumped at this and stayed up for most of the day. dow up 166 points to close the day. s&p 500 up 24 points. the nasdaq up 59 finishing out a very solid year for wall street. dow up 7.3%. s&p up 13.4%. nasdaq up nearly 16%. though those numbers could shift next year especially if the fiscal cliff isn't solved, bret. >> bret: if this deal passes, the mini deal, which many republicans aren't happy about because it includes no new spending cuts, if this deal passes, is wall street happy? >> wall street is somewhat happy. it depends on which corners of wall street. this major parts of the fiscal cliff. when you prevent a broad based tax increase you are still keeping money in people's pockets. that's money they will spend on products that could improve hiring or at least not hit hiring as much as it would

with that broad-based tax increase. keep some the money in the economy. that's good for the markets, that's good for folks working at different establishments and businesses and products. but there still a major problem out there, especially when you look at the u.s. deficits and debt and some investors are saying that congress still needs to address structural debt problems. >> if we get a fiscal deal that really addresses the long-term trajectory, that might be the final piece of the rubiks cube that could lift markets and take them up to double digits gains for 2013. >> and, of course, bret, as have you been reporting, it's unlikely we are going to get a structural debt deal in just the next three and a half hours, bret. >> bret: last thing, we are now saying that this is going to happen. we are going to go over the cliff and we might as well start calling it the fiscal valley because we are dealing with it tomorrow. congress could still do things that happen before wednesday when the markets come back in

session. from a market perspective, what happens when all this happens? >> sure. you know, you've got what some folks have called and analysts have called fiscal armageddon coming. others saying it will be a gradual slowdown of the economy because essentially what you are looking at is when the government taxes more and the government spends less it is removing hundreds of billions of dollars out of the economy especially in this case. so you would start to likely see a gradual slowdown in the economy, congressional budget offices even calling for a brief recession. bret? >> bret: rich edson up on capitol hill watching all of this. thank you, rich. the clock is ticking down both to the big ball drop in times square. every senator who walks by gaggle of reporters going in trying to get any little thing. just any little tid bit. senate finance committee chairman max baucus just walked bunch a bunch of reporters moments ago. he said he hopes vice president biden is coming tonight.

he said i hope. so he also said he hopes there is a vote tonight. that was the quote "i hope so." baucus says hold up are several things. and that the pay fors to cover the sequester those are the across the board cuts are really the issue as well as indexing the estate tax. and then we had senator patrick leahy the president pro tem the senior senator in the senate. he says he doesn't know if they are going to have a democratic caucus tonight or not. for biden is coming. so, we're following every minute. the light is still on in congress and we're still here at "special report." the panel is coming up. ♪

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>> if republicans think that i will finish the job deficit reduction through spending cuts alonenned a you hear that sometimes coming from them that sort of after today we are just gonna try to shove only spending cuts down, you know -- well, shove spending. [ laughter ] shove spending cuts at us, that will hurt seniors, or hurt students, or hurt middle class families, without asking also equivalent sacrifice from

millionaires or companies with a lot of lobbyists, et cetera, if they think that's going to be the formula for how we solve this thing, then they have got another thing coming. that's not how it's gonna work. >> i would think democrats would be embarrassed at what the president did. it was a campaign event. for the president to do that leaves you with only one impression. he doesn't want to deal with it. but we're going to rise above that just like in football we're told don't retaliate to the guy that taunts you. >> bret: okay. the president talking today and republicans reacting today as we wait tonight for any action up on the senate. we just heard from senator chuck schumer saying the democrats plan to caucus sometime soon. they don't know if the vice president will be there or not which means something will be happening. let's bring in our panel jonah goalberg, kirsten powers and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. thank you all for stick around on this new year's eve. joanna, you just heard a

different, kind of play back of the president's remarks today. thoughts? >> yeah. i think this is something on the earlier panel i was saying that some people think, including myself that he was trying to sabotage his administration's own deal, a deal that was brokered by joe biden. there is another possibility. another interpretation of this actually bizarre quasicampaign stop that he did today and it's that he is fearing his weakness with his own base. this was a way to sort of use this hand picked audience as a sort of a interlock tear thing sound tough as he was going to go against the republicans. at the same time some of the things he said about how we're going to have more tax cuts coming down the pike after this goes through it's hard not to hear that if you listen to that through the ears of a hill republican, it sounds like a poison pill kind of thing. it sounds like more tax increases. >> right. but he wants to raise taxes

again to come up with a way to get rid of the sequester and to trim the size of government. >> we're knot done. >> raising taxes. >> don't worry, folks, more tax hikes are are coming seem to be the message out of that which i think is an odd message unless you want to go over the fiscal cliff. kirsten? >> the president himself doesn't have a problem with the base in the sense that he is not running for office again. the people who do have a problem. a lot of people have to pass n congress. dose have to protect them. they do have a problem in the sense that the base wants it to be 250 and not higher. they don't understand why the president would even compromise on that. why he put the 400,000 number out in the first place. you know, it's possible that that's it. i said earlier part of it is he thinks the deal is falling apart and he thinks he has to come out and be very strong this way. i think that's just -- >> bret: senators now talking about the estate tax and specifics and you are getting down into, i mean a lot of things that from the democratic side, there are

sticking points. >> right. it's a little bit of the blame game which happens in politics but i think that it was -- maybe an effort to try to come out strong, try to push people in a certain direction. maybe try to shame them. it's obviously not working so well. i think that could have been his motivation. >> i see it differently. i think this is a second term president who no longer has to pretend. in the first term he had to pretend he cared about spending and debt. in fact, when he sold obama care, if you remember the first speech, he said this is a way to deal with our debt. the main driver of debt is healthcare costs and what i'm going to do is going to cure the problem. that's how he sold it i don't think he believed it then. i'm not sure he believes it now. >> just such a good segway because you don't even know that i have these things in my back pocket. [ laughter ] and because i didn't brief you before. >> this is like abbot and costello. >> bret: it really is. we'll end 2012. >> he have been doing the gig

for so long don't have to communicate. >> bret: listen to the president talk about entitlements and when he talking to republicans. >> the major driver of our long-term liabilities, everybody here knows is medicare and medicaid and our healthcare spending. nothing comes close. social security we could probably fix the same way tipp o'neal and ronald reagan sat down together and they could figure something out, that is manageable. medicare and medicaid, massive problem down the road. that's where -- that's going to be what our children have to worry about. we're not going to be able to do anything about any of these entitlements if what we do is characterize whatever proposals are put out there as well, you know, that's -- the other party is being irresponsible. the other party is trying to hurt our, our senior citizens. that the other party is doing x, y, z.

that's why i say if we're gonna frame these debates in ways that allow us to solve them then we can't start off by figuring out a, who is to blame, b, how can we make the american people afraid of the other side? >> bret: okay. that was the republican retreat in baltimore in 2010. >> let me assure the folks out there this was not a set-up. i had no idea. >> bret: no. it's true. >> this is exactly who he was when he was in the first term and he needed re-election. remember what he said this "wall street journal" reporter what he said to boehner right after the election when he offered him the 800 billion in increased revenues. boehner said what do i get in return and obama said nothing. i get that free. that's who he is. the second term, this is a guy who has no interest in cutting spending. he has an interest in expanding the welfare state. he has now achieved it in

welfare. he spoke earlier in his presidency. the first speech he gave joint session of congress education, energy and healthcare. he is in part on his way. going to revolutionize the country. he he doesn't care. when we heard that what he said this afternoon, he he was mocking the idea of cutting spending and then he said i'm going to stand up for seniors and all the others will be heard. this is an annall of this is dot care if we go over the cliff or not. he thinks he wins either way. he is not going to bend on spending in the future. >> bret: down the road, does this mini deal come together tonight, tomorrow? >> i think it likely will and i think it's likely the house will reject it. >> i don't know because i didn't think we were going to go over the cliff. >> bret: and here we are. >> here we are. i was wrong about that. i would hope that they would be able to work something out and be able to get something

done before we actually officially. see the results in the market. try to get it done. hawaii. fiscal cliff hasn't touched them yet. so, i think we go over the cliff and then the bunji cord attached to our ofeet we dangle for a while. it will be the end of the week. >> bret: next up, a look back at the year that was.

♪ auld lang syne. >> bret: it's a big night. do we have the live look at

times square people huddled down there? oh, that is live. look at that they are all packing in there. a lot of them have been there all day. getting ready for that big crystal ball to drop. there you see the countdown, the new year's countdown on the screen. 2012. there is the ball. it's been a crazy year. crazy news year as well. we're back with the panel. we decided that we would try the highlights and low lights of 2012 with the panel for this second panel. the last panel of 2012 i should point out. >> knock on wood. be. [ laughter ] >> bret: charles, highlight and low light. >> i just got a news alert. just arrived at the senate chamber. >> bret: someone just laughed in tv land. >> they are like what is that? >> rolling out of their seats. >> only sober person in times square just laughed.

highlight scott walker's victory in wisconsin and the right-to-work legislation in michigan, which was rather astounding. , which show where liberals control the national government conservatives are doing their best state level and it will be interesting for the future and encouraging. low light, not just 9/11 attack in benghazi but the demonstrations around the arab world. all the way from to your knowledge to to your tunisia to indonesia. -- a rude awakening. >> bret: kirsten highlight low light. >> highlight housing starting to turn around in 2012. just finally having some sort of light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the economy. despite the fact that my two friends here will continue to claim the economy is not getting better but it is.

and the low light is the same as charles, i mean, i would just add to that that the way the media didn't cover the issue outside of fox news and a couple other people, the way the administration really has not been forth coming in answering questions about it, how little we still really know just all together, just made added to what charles talked about basic foreign policy implications. made the whole thing really one of the low points of this year. >> bret: is your sense that this has ended the coverage? i mean all of these independent reports? today's report, if you read it, if you read this report, from senators lieberman and collins, it's pretty scathing, even more so than the independent report. >> everything has been scathing from beginning to end and yet people continue to overlook it. yeah, i would probably guess it's sort of peter out and people are going to forget

that it ever happened. >> bret: highlight? low light? >> start with my low light i was originally going to say election of barack obama. i think it's unfair. then i was going to say the nomination of mitt romney. i think that's unfair. the entire movable feast horror show that was the republican nominating process. the primaries, the iowa caucuses, all the way through the ends up compounding a lot of the g.o.p.'s problems. >> bret: there were five really good debates. [ laughter ] >> bret: in there. i don't know which ones but there were at least five. >> out of 1700 debates and then i started thinking of what is something we can all sort of truly agree on. mark twain once said that the reason why we rejoice at weddings and cry at funerals is because we're not the person involved. i will be a little bit more upbeat and say that the one unifying highlight was that the myians were proven wrong about the end of the world. and i know that's low hanging

fruit, but if you look back on 2012 it was a really awful awful year in so many ways from sandy hook on down. at least we can all agree that a fiery consumption of the planet didn't happen. >> boehner for him it was his plan c. >> bret: myans didn't get that right. >> bret: bad year for boehner all around. >> bret: fiscal cliff you would say that's a low light? >>. no it's a wakeup call that we have got to get something done. and i think it's t. just accentuates and will make the debate more intense. it's a debate we have to have. >> bret: panel, as always, thank you very much. happy new year. >> happy new year. >> bret: that's it for the panel. student for a 2012 flashback.

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finally tonight this is the last special report of 2012. as you heard it was quite a year. tonight in three hours before 2013 we take the year in quickly and for every story important to you, special report had you covered. to iowaians across --

♪ we are not going backwards, we are going forwards.